Day 1 - Flight to Namibia
Begin your exclusive adventure with a scheduled overnight flight from London to Windhoek with Air Namibia.
Dinner is included on the flight.
Day 2 - Windhoek
On arrival in Windhoek, you are met and driven to a comfortable guesthouse. Your day is free to relax, swim, or wander into town, before an early-evening visit by one of our team who joins you for a chat to discuss your trip and answer any queries. For dinner you can choose one of the city's many good restaurants, or eat at the guesthouse if you prefer.
Includes breakfast.
Day 3 - Namib-Naukluft National Park
Your guide collects you after breakfast to head west over the Great Escarpment. After a picnic lunch at a scenic spot on the way, you gradually descend over mountain passes and towards the Namib Desert's flat coastal plain. You stop at Sossus Dune Lodge, situated on the edge of the desert for the next two nights. Arriving in the mid-afternoon, you've time to walk out into the surrounding area or just relax and enjoy the sunset.
Windhoek to Sesriem: approx. 5½ hours (450km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 4 - Namib-Naukluft National Park
Start early to catch the dunefields of the Namib Desert in the rich light of sunrise. The colours and shadows on the dunes are spectacular and change fast; at times it's all so amazing you won't know where to look first! Visit Sossusvlei and Dead Vlei and climb some of the highest dunes in the world before enjoying a delicious brunch under a camelthorn tree.
Nearby Sesriem Canyon is a narrow, eroded gorge about a kilometre in length, dotted with freshwater pools that refill after good rains. Centuries of floods have carved sinuous curves into the rock, making this a cool discovery on the hottest afternoon. Back at your lodge, plan for a late afternoon walk or a scenic sundowner drive to the nearby Elim Dune. Alternatively you could simply relax and enjoy the view before dinner.
Sesriem to Sossusvlei to Sesriem: approx. 2 hours (120km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 5 - Swakopmund
After breakfast, continue north through the Namib-Naukluft Park, via the deep, impressive Gaub and Kuiseb canyons, before heading west to the coast at Walvis Bay. Check out the lagoon and some of the other coastal spots here, as you'll often find large flocks of cormorants, pelicans, flamingos and other water birds. The pleasant coastal town of Swakopmund is a short drive away: the road is a strip of tarmac running between the beach and the dunes.
Overnight in one of the town's best old colonial hotels; your guide will invite you to dine at one of his/her favourite restaurants. Don't miss the fresh seafood - Swakopmund is famous for it!
Namib-Naukluft Park to Swakopmund: approx. 6 hours (280km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Days 6 to 9 - Damaraland Mobile Camp
After leaving Swakopmund, head along the desolate Skeleton Coast to drop in on the huge colony of Cape fur seals at Cape Cross, before turning inland to the arid mountains of Damaraland. Here you camp for four nights, split between two different locations. See the descriptions below for details of these exclusive mobile camp site options. Talk to us, and choose which sites would suit you best: they've all got great scenery and are blissfully remote.
Ugab River Valley
As the Ugab River heads towards the Atlantic, its dry riverbed marks the southern border of the Skeleton Coast National Park. The rugged, rocky roads test your 4WD's suspension to the limits, before finally you reach a camp that has been set up in the sandy riverbed, between high walls of rock. Look at an abandoned copper mine, or take a short walk in the hills, and keep your eyes open for the desert-adapted elephant that frequent the river.
Mowani Foothills
Here your exclusive campsite is dwarfed by the huge granite boulders that surround it. This is superb scenery, and great walking country overlooking the dry Aba-Huab River. It's the perfect location for easy access to Twyfelfontein's vast gallery of rock art (now a UNESCO World Heritage Site), and southern Damaraland's many other attractions. Your guide also knows off-road tracks around the Aba-Huab River, where you can search for signs of desert-adapted elephants and other game.
Palmwag Concession
We can arrange for you to have your own exclusive tented camp at a remote location in the Palmwag Reserve. This 4,047 km2 private reserve has a number of freshwater springs that support strong populations of game, including elephant, the rare Hartmann's mountain zebra, giraffe, oryx, springbok and kudu. Predators including lion, cheetah, leopard, brown and spotted hyena are occasionally seen here too. The speciality of the area is its growing population of rare desert-adapted black rhino, the largest concentration in the world outside a national park. The rhino here are monitored and protected by the Save the Rhino Trust and you may be lucky enough to see one during your drive.
Swakopmund to Ugab: approx. 4 ½ hours (220km)
Swakopmund to Mowani: approx. 6 hours (345km)
Mowani to Palmwag: approx. 3 hours (140km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Days 10 & 11 - Hobatere Lodge
It's another day of great scenery as you drive to private Hobatere wildlife reserve, adjacent to Etosha's western boundary. This covers a large swathe of relatively lush bush with excellent densities of big game. Spend a day exploring Hobatere with your guide (a wildlife expert in his/her own right), and perhaps go on a walking safari and a night drive; both are included in the price. Alternatively this is a great place to relax beside the (elephant-proof) swimming pool, or to spend a couple of hours in the game hide that overlooks a waterhole close to the lodge.
Twyfelfontein to Hobatere: approx. 4½ hours (315 km)
Palmwag to Hobatere: approx. 4½ hours (240km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 12 - Etosha National Park
We have special access to the western side of Etosha, which is closed to the park's normal visitors. After breakfast, cross from Hobatere straight into western Etosha for a superb day's adventure as you game drive to Okaukuejo Restcamp, where you'll stay for the night. After dinner and drinks, don't forget to check out the floodlit waterhole here; it gets regular visits from much big game, including elephant, black rhino and lion.
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Days 13 & 14 - Okonjima Lodge
After a morning game drive around Etosha's waterholes, and a satisfying brunch, you leave the park through the small towns of Outjo and Otjiwarongo to reach Okonjima Lodge. This is home to the AfriCat Foundation, which was set up to help conserve Namibia's cheetah and other big cats. You guide will leave you for your time here, where the organised activities might include visits to the leopard and cheetah welfare projects, game drives or the educational Bushman walking trail and visits to a night hide.
Southern Etosha National Park to Okonjima: approx. 3½ hours (250km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 15 - Windhoek
There's time to enjoy a last activity and a delicious brunch before your guide collects you for the return trip to Windhoek, via the superb craft markets of Okahandja. Back in Windhoek, there's a little time to relax, explore, or finish last-minute shopping before a farewell dinner.
Okonjima to Windhoek: approx. 3½ hours (265km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 16 - Flight to London
After some free time in Windhoek, you are collected from your guesthouse and driven to the airport in time to depart on your scheduled flight to London.
Includes breakfast. Dinner is on the flight.
Day 17 - Arrive in London
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